India and Hungary have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote and develop traditional systems of medicine, especially the Indian system of Ayurveda.

Union minister of state for health and family welfare Santosh Chowdhary and Hungary's minister of national resources Zolton Banog signed the agreement towards this in New Delhi on Thursday.

This important initiative coincides the arrival of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban in New Delhi on Thursday.

The main objective of this MoU is to strengthen, promote and develop cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefits, an official release said.

Under the MoU, both countries will encourage and promote cooperation to enhance the use of traditional systems of medicine, exchange of regulatory information on operational licensing to practice traditional medicine and on marketing authorisation of medicines in both countries, promote the exchange of experts for training of practitioners, para-medics, scientists, teaching professionals and students in traditional systems of medicine.

The signing of MoU will give boost to bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the areas of traditional medicines which will open new vistas for exploring the potential of economic, commercial and tourism development in both the countries, the release noted.

The signing of such bilateral agreements will enable India to gain global recognition for traditional systems of medicine, including Ayurveda, Unani, Yoga and Naturopathy, Siddha, Homeophathy and Sowa-Rigpa (Namchi).

India has already signed such agreements with Malaysia and Trininad and Tobago and is in the process of signing agreements with Russia, Nepal, Srilanka, Serbia and Mexico in near future.